Saturday, March 23, 2013

I Don't like that!

EP sometimes gets into trouble when it has a controversial theory. Take for instance rape. In the standard social science model, rape is an act of violence against women by men. Now that is true, but it does not explain why the behavior exists!

Rape is a risky act. In hunter-gather societies the retribution by the the woman's family could be quite  severe. In modern times, you can caught, arrested and spend long periods in jail. Not exactly good for your EC-evolutionary currency

How does EP stand on rape. The best explanation in EP comes from Thornhill, The Natural History of Rape, rape is a strategy usually employed by low status men to try to get their genes in the next generation. Not a very good one perhaps, but how would a low status male- an outcast have any other chance?

A good comeback against tis theory could be Mike Tyson or Kobe Bryant(who had to pay his way out of it). They are high status but are rapists. So your theory is wrong! Well not really. It shows men are little more than reproducing machines! And given the chance to produce a little cheap sperm to get your genes into the next generation is a gamble that could pay off.

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